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General Smuts's 
Message to South Wales 




speech delivered at Tonypandy, Rhondda, on October 29, 1917 
W. F. Nicholas, Clerk to Rhondda District Ck>uncU, Presided . 



NEW YORK 

GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 

MCMXVIII. 



PRTCB nvs CEsrrs 



GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE TO 
SOUTH WALES 

GENERAL SMUTS, who was received with loud and 
prolonged cheering, said: **Mr. Nicholas, ladies and 
gentlemen, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the 
reception which you have given me here to-night. I was in- 
vited to attend and address a meeting at Tonypandy, and 
instead of having a meeting, this has turned out — from 
Cardiff to here — one of the greatest demonstrations I have 
ever seen in my life. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, I 
thank you for what I have seen, and, I may add reverently, 
I thank God for what I have seen, because I have seen that 
the heart of Wales beats true. (Applause.) After three 
years of the agonising loss and suffering caused by this war, 
the hearts of this little Nation beat true. The hammer 
strokes of fate have not made you falter, but they have 
proved your metal. (Cheers.) Just eighteen years ago, I 
left Pretoria to go into another war. That war lasted for 
three years. For three years I was, figuratively speaking, 
up to my neck in it. The position I took up, and still take 
up, is that that war was a war for freedom. It was a war 
of a small Nation against the biggest Nation in the World. 
We fought to the bitter end (Cheers), until all our men, 
women and children were either in the field or in concen- 
tration camps at home or overseas, and then we gave in. 
We lost our liberty, but we soon got our liberty back again. 
(Cheers.) By God's Providence what seemed to be lost to 
us was restored to us in a very short number of years, and, 
when that great result had been achieved, I never thought 
I would spend another three years in waging the same 
struggle over again. Over three years ago, I had again to 
leave Pretoria in connection with this great struggle, and 
in these last three years, I think I have covered — if I may 

I 



2 GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 

refer to myself — as large a territory as any man who has 
fought in this war. {Cheers.) And to-night I have come 
to Wales to speak to you, not because I think it is neces- 
sary, because I am already convinced that it is not necessary 
to address any great exhortations to you. You know your 
duty, and I know you will do it. ( Cheers. ) 

"Wales has done her duty from the very first days of 
the war. When war broke out, you did not wait for com- 
pulsion. Your young men came forward by the tens of 
thousands, I might almost say by the hundreds of thou- 
sands — your young men went on that hard, difficult road 
of duty, and there they are to-day, with eyes set to watch 
the sun emerge to that great destiny which is in store for 
us all. {Cheers.) You who have remained behind, the 
women, the children and the older men, have done your 
best to be worthy of those heroes who fought at Mametz 
Wood and beyond Ypres, and under the most appalling 
losses did their duty to the citizens of this Empire and did 
their duty to you, and I know you are prepared to do your 
duty. {Cheers.) 

"In this, the fourth year of the war, the strain is becom- 
ing very great, not only on you, but on the people all over 
the world. After all, our nerves are only made of flesh, 
and the sufferings, the losses — the appalling losses — and 
the sores of this war are being borne in on us more day by 
day. Therefore I do not wonder that it is now being asked 
in all places 'What are we fighting for ?' and * What are our 
prospects of achieving these things we are fighting for?* 
Ladies and gentlemen, I consider these to be very proper 
and fair questions; so when the National War Aims Com- 
mittee asked me to address meetings in England, Wales 
and Scotland, I agreed to do so. I consider it is part of 
the war to consider what we are fighting for, and what 
hopes we have of achieving our ends. I have come to 
speak to you on these questions in a plain, simple way. 
We are all in the same struggle, we sink or swim together, 
and I think that we should consult together and see what 
true light there is to be thrown on this matter which is 
weighing on our lives and consciences. I remember, years 



GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 3 

ago, people talking about the great war that was coming, 
people talking about the great Armageddon that was com- 
ing, but did any human being or any nation f orsee that such 
a tragedy would overrun the earth? No, no human being 
foresaw that; no one ever even dreamt of it. We have all 
made mistakes, but I will tell you who made the greatest mis- 
take. It was made by the German Government and the Ger- 
man General Staff. They thought that, at this time of the 
day, at the beginning of the twentieth century, you could 
wage a war of the old type — a military war. They thought 
that they could accumulate a large army, and that they 
could accumulate a large supply of huge guns, and when 
they were perfectly ready and prepared, and when 
their neighbours were asleep, they could spring on them 
like a tiger, and achieve victory and mastery over the whole 
world. 

"Well, we have all made mistakes, but the greatest mis- 
take of this war was when the German Government and 
the German General Staff, before the war, believed in a 
military war. It has not turned out to be a military war; 
it has been a war not of armies, not of nations, but a war 
of systems, a war of ideals, a war of the souls of the peo- 
ple, and it will be continued on that level. It will not be 
decided on the armies engaged nor on the battlefields; the 
true battlefield is in the souls of the nations. (Applause.) 
The true cause, the true issues, are the great principles on 
which human society and progress rest, and, when victory is 
ultimately achieved, you will find that it will not be a mili- 
tary victory, it will not be a victory of armies, but it will 
be a great moral victory — a victory of principle, which will 
form a new foundation for human progress* after this 
war is decided. (Cheers.) Yes, that has been the most 
fundamental mistake that they have made, and it is for you 
to make sure that that mistake will cost them the issue of 
this war. You have an Empire — and when I address you 
here to-night, you must bear in mind I do not speak to you 
as one of your ordinary leaders, or as one of your politi- 
cians. I have nothing to do with the domestic politics of 
the United Kingdom; I stand as a representative of the 



4 GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 

great Society of Nations that composes the British Empire. 
(Applause.) And you in Wales, and you in Tonypandy, 
concern me only as far as these great issues are concerned — 
these issues on which the future of the Empire, the future 
of the world depend. (Cheers.) What is the basis of the 
British Empire? It is liberty (Cheers), it is constitutional 
Government, and it is freedom. (Cheers.) You are not 
banded together by a great army, you are not banded 
together by a Government with extraordinary powers, 
you are spread all over the world, you are living in 
all climes, and you are held together by your communica- 
tions over these Continents. The real principle on which 
you exist is the principle of self-government conceded to 
every part of the British Empire, or, where not already 
conceded, to be conceded more and more in the future. 
(Cheers.) That is the principle, good for you not only in 
your Government but in your private lives. In your ordi- 
nary industrial concerns you want freedom. You do not 
want to be slaves, you do not want to be dictated to, you 
want security, you want freedom and you want self-gov- 
ernment in your industrial life in Wales, and these princi- 
ples on which the British Empire exists are the principles 
which we want to see triumph. (Applause.) You want 
the human individual not to be merely a means to an end, 
you do not want the human individual to be exploited, you 
do not want individuals for self-aggrandisement, but you 
want them to develop and reach the highest that they are 
capable of reaching. That you can only attain by relying on 
the principle of liberty. 

"As against that you have another system to-day, work- 
ing in the world with great success — that is the principle on 
which Germany stands. In Germany you have not self- 
government, you have not freedom. In Germany these 
things are looked on as mere clap-trap. In Germany the 
whole system is to develop power, to make the human in- 
dividual serve the State. You can train your young men 
as soldiers, as members of a military organisation, you can 
take possession of the souls of your people, you can try to 
amass together the largest amount of power for the Nation 



GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 5 

as such. That is the German system, that is the German 
principle — not liberty, not freedom, not righteousness. The 
will to power is the ideal that dominates the German sys- 
tem, and you know under our modern conditions what an 
enormous power can be developed by a State under the con- 
ditions which exist there. At the present time, you have 
the State able to grip every individual, and to deal almost 
with his conscience. It can deal with his body, and, in fact, 
deal with him in almost every way possible. That has been 
the German system. The German system has been to train 
the citizen as a band of the State, not as a free soul, not as 
a citizen. After you have done that, you will have a huge 
power, which you can direct against any point, and their 
plan has been to get the mastery of the world by means of 
that huge power. Those are the two principles which are 
contending against one another in the world. This war is 
not about territories, this war is not about any small issues, 
the things we see mentioned in the newspapers are not the 
real underlying principles of this war. This is a spiritual 
war; it is a moral war. (Applause.) You see to-day the 
agonies of a dying world ; it is an appalling tragedy which 
has come over mankind, the like of which has never been 
seen in history before; you see the whole world perishing. 
That is God's providence. Perhaps it is better so. I ask you 
what world is going to arise on the ruins of this world? 
What is the new order to be? Is it going to arise on the 
principles of freedom, on the principles of liberty of the 
Nations small and large? Is it going to arise on the prin- 
ciples of self-government all round in the concerns of men, 
or is the foundation to be laid by these principles of force, 
by the principle of the will to power on which Germany 
stands? That is the choice before the world to-day; that is 
the choice before each of us to-day. We have to choose, 
when thinking over this great trouble, what is going to be 
the future of the world, and what is going to be the future 
of our own Empire. As I was coming up the street to- 
night and I saw all those bright-faced young people by the 
thousand running along and singing their songs, I thought 
that, with the help of God, we should never allow that they 



6 GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 

should become slaves and a means to wage other wars. 
(Applause.) We will not allow that. This issue has not 
been raised by us; this war has not been our doing. We 
have been dragged into it. You people know that there was 
not the slightest intention on the part of the people or on 
the part of the Government of the people to start this war. 
They did their best to keep out of it, but they have been 
dragged into it, and now, in the fourth year of this war, it 
is becoming more clear than ever that this is a war between 
God and the Devil. (Applause.) 

"This is a war between ultimate principles. Now has to 
be decided whether we will live free lives, or whether we 
will be dragooned on the principles of the drill sergeant, on 
the principles of militarism and on the principles of tyran- 
nous Governments. That is the issue. We will not rest — 
I, for one will not rest (applause) — we will not rest until 
that issue has been decided, because never again do we want 
to see such a tragedy overwhelming mankind ; never again 
would we like to see brute force tyrannise over the weak. 
Now that the issue has been raised by the enemy we will 
keep him to it until the end comes, and he disgorges what 
he has seized by his illegal methods. (Applause.) Ger- 
many to-day sits with a big war map, which she developed 
by that power, which 'she developed by careful preparation, 
by careful study in advance and careful staff work. She 
developed all that enormous power which enabled her at the 
beginning of the war to overrun large parts of Europe, 
and she sits to-day with large parts of Europe, she sits with 
large parts of Belgium, with large parts of France, large 
parts of Russia, large parts of Roumania, Serbia, and I 
do not know what besides. She did the planning and prep- 
aration in advance, and she sits to-day with these territories. 
When we talk of peace and what our war zdms are, we 
want to see that war map of Germany become a scrap of 
paper. (Applause.) It shall be far more of a scrap of 
paper than was that Treaty' which protected Belgium. We 
want to see her disgorge every inch of territory she has 
occupied in this war, because it must be made clear to the 
men and women of this generation and to the men and 



GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 7 

women of the generations to come after us, that this wrong 
is not going to pay, that this crime against the peaceful 
progress of Europe is not going to pay Germany. 

'That is truly the law of justice, and that law shall pre- 
vail, and we will continue the war until that wrong done 
to Belgium and the other countries is undone, until the war 
map disappears, and until we know that she will not get 
the spoils of her so-called successes, that she will be left at 
the end of this war without an inch of the territory she has 
occupied. {Applause.) That is the only way of dealing 
with militarism, with Prussianism. There is no use work- 
ing at it on abstract principles. People believe in facts, and 
if you want to get it into the heads of the German people, 
and thereby into the skull of the Government, that militar- 
ism does not pay, that this system of drilling your nation to 
pounce on their neighbours does not pay, the only thing is 
to make them see that after three years of war, after four 
years of war, or even after five years of war they will lose 
every bit of country they have taken by their scheming and 
planning. That I think we must make up our minds on. 

'T have spoken in the same way before. After the meet- 
ing which I addressed in Sheffield, somebody wrote to me 
and said : *I agree with you, but the German people are pre- 
pared to agree to that, they have passed a resolution in the 
Reichstag that they will have peace without annexations 
and without indemnity.' Now, ladies and gentlemen, let us 
make no mistake about this peace. A resolution was passed 
in the German Reichstag, but that resolution nobody under- 
stands. The German papers — if you have to read them, as 
unfortunately I have to do from day to day to see what 
the other side thinks^ — the German papers since July last 
are fighting for the meaning of this resolution. The Gov- 
ernment never accepted it. The Chancellor said: T have 
no objection to it as I understand it.* {Laughter.) Well, 
of course, there are many ways of understanding a vague 
formula like that. I say that we are not going to be hum- 
bugged again, after all our sufferings and all our efforts, 
and after all this agony which has weighed down mankind 
for the last three years. We are going to look to strict busi- 



8 GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 

ness ; we are not going to speculate on what the Reichstag 
meant. We want it from them officially. We want from 
them officially a peace offer in which they say : * We are pre- 
pared to evacuate all the countries we have occupied.' That 
would be business. Then the people in this country and the 
Allies will know where they are. When the war map is 
withdrawn, when they say that they will have no annexa- 
tions, and they invite us to a peace conference, on that 
basis we will meet them. That means business, but not until 
then. (Applause.) 

"I want this war map smashed in the first place, because 
it will mean justice. It will mean that the spoliator will 
not reap any spoils, and it will mean that it will be brought 
home to their people that miHtarism or Prussianism does 
not pay. Those are the two concessions I want them to 
make and then the position will be entirely different from 
what it is to-day. (Applause.) I am not convinced at all 
in my own mind that the German Government have ac- 
cepted that formula of the Reichstag. You know that the 
German Parliament is not like our Parliament. Parliament 
in Germany is much more of a debating society character 
than is our Parliament, and its resolutions are of a much 
more pious character than are the resolutions in our Par- 
liament. I do not know whether this meeting at Tony- 
pandy to-night does not carry more weight with the Eng- 
lish Government than the resolutions of the Reichstag do 
with the German Government. (Laughter.) That war 
map must go, but side by side with that war map another 
war map has appeared, of much more significance to the 
world. While Germany has been stamping on the small na- 
tions, while she has in the most ruthless and cruel manner 
applied her submarines to the murder of innocent women 
and children, the world has looked on, and the world has a 
conscience. The German General Staff did not know it; 
they thomght it was a military question, but in this there 
is the question of so many consciences, and alongside the 
map of occupied German territory you have another of ex- 
traordinary significance to the futtire of the >vorld — that 
is the map of all the countries of the world that have gone 



GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 9 

into the war against Germany. Nothing Hke it has been 
seen in the history of the world. Nations whose traditions 
were peaceful, nations who never dreamt of getting into 
this war, nations whose policy has been founded, like the 
United States of America (Applause), for more than one 
hundred years on the principle that they would hold aloof 
from the affairs of Europe, on the principle laid down in 
the Monroe Doctrine that they would not interfere with 
the affairs of Europe, have at last come in, and say that 
it is not the business of Europe, it is the business of human 
conscience and the moral order of the universe, and no 
man or woman can stand aside when issues are being settled 
that will affect the future, not of Europe, but of the whole 
world. {Applause.) 

'*So you have to-day against Germany almost the whole 
of the world. If you take an atlas, and mark on it the 
countries that are not at war with Germany, with Austria, 
with Bulgaria, with Turkey, and with the Devil {Laugh- 
ter) , you will find that they are very small patches indeed. 
Practically the whole of the Universe is at war with that 
combination of five which I have just mentioned. Now, that 
is of extreme significance, and that is going to settle this 
war in the end. Because what does it mean? These Na- 
tions have not rushed in for gain. America has not come 
in for gain, she has everything to lose and nothing to gain, 
she wants nothing in Europe, and the same with many 
other countries that have come into this war, they feel that 
there is a moral issue. 

'That great war map of all Germany's enemies is very 
significant, because it shows that in this immoral world, in 
this selfish world, in this self-aggrandising world, this is 
beginning to tell, and you have the beginning of the future 
Government of the world. You have in this system now 
arising the principle of the moral law recognised more than 
ever before in the Government of Nations and of men. 
I consider that this war map is of great significance on 
that ground, but it is of even greater significance in an- 
other way. What has Germany to look forward to, sup- 
posing she goes on with this war? What is going to hap- 



10 GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 

pen? Germany is out for world trade, for world empire. 
What good will it be if in the end the whole world is against 
her? After she is cut off from the rest of the world, cut 
off, isolated in the centre of Europe, what good will it be? 
And the German people are beginning to realise that. If 
they do not realise the moral issue, they realise that the 
economic issue is at stake, and they see that her whole 
future is compromised, and that the rest of the world may 
cast her adrift. How will she recover her economic posi- 
tion in the world? About the future I have no doubt, but 
that one war map must go, and the other will settle this 
war. {Applaiise.) 

"Your armies are at present fighting with extreme brav- 
ery at the Front, experiencing hardships and suffering, but 
they are not all-important. There are other factors to be 
considered. This is not a war of armies; this is not a 
military war. In the end this war will be decided on the 
moral forces set going in this war, which are far stronger 
than any army, artillery or munitions of war. The one war 
map must go, and the other war map will make it go. In 
the meantime, you will have ups and downs, make no mis- 
take about that. You will have military ups and downs 
during the course of this war. I have noticed to-day a cer- 
tain amount of misgivings about what is happening in 
Italy. Do not lose your heads, do not lose your sense of 
proportion; these are but small things. Italy will be all 
right in the end. {Loud Cheers.) Our sympathies go out 
to her in her hour of trouble, and more, our strong arm will 
go out to her in her trouble, and you will find, in the end, 
that this grave danger which is threatening Italy may not 
only be turned off, but may be turned into an instrument 
which will help us to beat the enemy. {Applause.) It will 
not help Germany on to victory. That you may be certain 
of. Do you remember that, in the autumn of 191 5, Serbia 
was oven\^helmed in a similar way by Germany and Aus- 
tria. Has that helped Germany in the least towards victory ? 
In the following autumn, Roumania was overwhelmed by 
Germany; did that help Germany to victory? Now they 
are trying to overwhelm Italy. Can that help them to vie- 



GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 11 

tory? It can only have one effect, and that is to prolong 
the war. Who is going to suffer most from the 
prolongation of the war? I have no hesitation in saying 
Germany. If there is one thing more than another the 
German and Austrian people are grovelling for, it is peace. 
Peace they want as soon as possible. You have no idea, 
not even a suspicion, of what they are suffering in these 
countries. A thick veil is drawn over it. Even neutrals 
are not allowed now into Germany. I am told that Ger- 
mans only under the very strictest conditions are allowed 
to go to neutral countries bordering on Germany. The 
whole idea is not to let the world know what is passing. 

"If the world sometimes appears dark to us, and we 
feel the strain and oppression, the other side feels it much 
more. They cannot stand the strain, and these little vic- 
tories over Serbia, Roumania, and Italy can only prolong 
the war and prolong the agony of Germany and her Allies. 
The war, so far as the military war is concerned, will be 
decided in the main theatre, and that is on the Western 
Front. (Applause.) Germany cannot win on the battle- 
field unless she can beat the British Army, the French 
Army, and the American Army. Does she show much 
chance of doing that? (A voice: No.) You ask those 
brave men — those brave Welshmen who stormed Mametz 
Wood; ask those brave men who, since July 31st, have been 
conquering the impregnable positions of the enemy, hith- 
erto unknown in the history of the world. Ask the French 
Army. The military predominance in the war is entirely 
on our side. It is because Germany knows that, and knows 
that she has no chance on the field of battle that she goes 
to the side-issues. (Laughter.) Hammer Russia. Poor 
Russia! That is the thing. She is like a patient in hospital 
suffering from fever, she is not in her right mind, but she 
will be right by and by. (Applause.) Hammer Russia. 
Hammer Italy, because she is not strong enough to stand 
the assault of the combined German and Austrian Armies. 
That will not help them. They may have temporary suc- 
cess, but that will not help in winning the war. We are 



12 . GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 

fighting the war in the theatre in which it is to be won, and 
may God help us to win it. (Applause.) 

'Therefore, I say: 'Do not be disheartened with any news 
you get.' The big forces, the invisible forces, the people of 
the universe, the soul and conscience of mankind are all 
fighting on your side. They appeal to you to be strong in 
yourselves. After all, to us of this generation has come 
this great chance, which seldom comes to man; to you, to 
me, to the Allied Nations has come the call to jump into the' 
breach, and shall we forsake our duty and stand aside? 
Dark though the night be, yet until the day dawns we are 
not going to give in. (Applause.) If we are deemed 
worthy in the course of history to stand in that breach to 
fight for liberty against the greatest odds the world has 
ever seen, then let our bodies lie there, but we will not give 
in, because there is one thing we are after, and that is that 
this shall never be repeated, and that no Government, how- 
ever powerful, shall have the courage to try a similar deed 
against the peace of mankind again. No, we are not going 
to give in — not until we have established the world on the 
new basis. Under the new basis let us have no more stand- 
ing armies. The young manhood of the nations should 
no longer be sacrificed to the Moloch of war. We do not 
want standing armies to weigh as a heavy incubus on the 
economic resources of the nation. We want, however, de- 
velopment, we want all our energy, we want all our power 
exploited, to the development of our economic resources. 
As long as you have militarism, as long as you have stand- 
ing armies and these powers, poor suffering mankind will 
never see that development. If you want a better Eng- 
land, if you want a better Wales, and if you want a better 
Tonypandy, then let us win victory first. You are not 
isolated any longer. We thought we could live alone in 
this little Island here, but now we have found that what 
affects one nation affects another, and this war has brought 
home to us how the plans of Germany have affected the 
whole world. Therefore, no real progress can be made 
in your own economic and industrial developments until 
we have this matter of peace settled. (Applause.) 



GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 13 

"No more standing armies and armaments! It is hope- 
less to think, or to expect, that the future peace of the 
world can be maintained while nations pile up huge arma- 
ments and build up great armies, armaments that are paid 
for by the blood of the citizens, and which are used for the 
slaughter of the citizens. Now that we are deemed worthy 
by Providence to carry this through, we will fight it out to 
the very end. (Applause.) 

"There is one matter I would like to refer to, ladies 
and gentlemen, because it is always close to me, and it is 
always close to your hearts, and that is the cause of the 
little nations. You are a little nation who have stood by 
your traditions, who have stood by your language, and 
have stood by your national type. You have done your 
best to develop it. All over the world you have small peo- 
ples who have not been crushed by the mighty Empires, 
but are, as it were, in the process of being absorbed by this 
cobra. I thought that was going to happen to my country, 
but it turned the other way because we put up a fight, 
which showed the British Empire there was more than Em- 
pires at stake. I want one of the objects of this war to be 
the establishment of small nations. Why should we all be 
bloated Empires? If you have the equality we all desire, 
there will be no difference between small and great. The 
small will continue to develop and add great variety and 
gaiety to the minds of nations. 

"I shall not detain you any longer (Cries of 'Go on'), nor 
do I think it is necessary to address an appeal to you. The 
mind of Tonypandy is as clear as water to me to-night. 
I can see what you are after. You are at the very point 
you were at in August, 19 14. The same determination, 
the same resolution, perhaps wiser and more determined 
to see the thing through, because you have seen the suffer- 
ings of the nations of the earth. Therefore, I do not think 
it necessary to make any special appeal to you. I would 
say that, after all, we count for very little, our lives are 
very short; all of us have only a few years before us, and 
when we go to the Valley of the Great Shadow we will 
not take any riches with us, not even our dear grievances 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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015 845 520 1 (p 
14 GENERAL SMUTS'S MESSAGE 

can we take with us. We can, however, leave behind us 
one thing — a record to our children which will make their 
backs grow straighter. (Loud Applause.) We can make 
them remember us with gratitude as those to whom the 
call of duty came, and came not in vain, and, as you re- 
sponded in the past, you and all the peoples of the British 
Empire will continue to respond to the very end, to con- 
sider your lives cheap, to consider your efforts cheap, and 
to consider everything cheap so long as right can be ad- 
vocated, so long as you know that there will be a chance 
to live for the nations to come. When you have achieved 
that for yourselves, remember that you will have achieved 
it for the world, and the Germans themselves will thank 
you for having achieved it, because there are many of 
them to-day who would thank you for having attained 
victory if they could speak out their hearts. We have been 
fighting not for ourselves, but for the highest ideals of the 
human race. When we talk of war let us think of that. 

"I look on this war as a moral crusade. It did not begin 
like that, but you know the transformations that took place ; 
perhaps, however, the greatest transformation of all that 
has taken place is that the war which began as a great mili- 
tary war is now a great moral and spiritual crusade, and 
the nation strongest in the military sense is the weakest 
of all because she has the least moral stock. Will you 
stand firm? Will you last it out? You will not give in, 
and I will tell you that, as sure as I stand here, victory is 
assured for the Allied cause and those great principles which 
we are fighting for.'* (Loud and prolonged Applause.) 



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